COUNTDOWN: FACES OF FUTURE & PAST 2.0

[cordibus]

It's been 7 days since the first network post, and predictably for those who where here the first time, a second one makes it's appearance a week afterwards.

Some have tried to best the program, others have already tried to figure out more about it, but nothing has been working. Others might have warned the Unawakened, but ow they're finding out for themselves. Bringing the phone to a repair shop to get it looked at? No programs found. Even getting the phone completely wiped did nothing, as the icon just showed up a few minutes after they walked out of the store. Showing it to a family member? The minute you blinked or turned it around to show them, it simply wasn't there.

It's taunting you. Whoever programmed this is really good. Frighteningly so. Also possibly an asshole, from the way Luci has been taunting and abusing his posting privileges.

Saturday night rolls around and still nothing from the application. The news this Saturday is nothing special. The festival of the longest day went off without a hitch, although the population had trouble getting into nightly shelters due to too much partying. A higher amount of robberies during daylight hours than last year, but nothing to raise cause for alarm. The peace continues at night.

The warning bells of the nightly curfew ring across the city as a few people finish locking their doors for the night. Civilians are settling in for a late supper and preparing for work tomorrow.

Not you, however. The Unawakened have been victim to a damn headache building for the past hour and by now their ears are ringing. Food doesn't look appetizing and they feel an urge to go to bed early. Didn't the other people in the channel warn them it might happen?

Either way, a little shut-eye would be welcome at this point. You don't even think too hard about it, and the headache fades into blissful sleep.

...I am thou...thou art I...your chains will soon break away....
2AM and you snap awake. The strange foreboding voice of...something echos in your head. It's the only thing you can hear now that your headache is gone andthe city is fast asleep. You're not sure why, but the voice makes you get up and grab your phone.

It's humming softly. The icon is glowing again. Before you do, you take a look around and suddenly notice...nothing's moving. Nothing but you. Almost as if time was frozen.

Is that even possible?

You can't back down now. Pressing the button reveals another terms of agreement, but it looks quite different. It's almost...gentle?


It may take a while or it may happen in an instant, but you eventually take your finger and trace your name over the signature area to continue. You've gotten this far in any case and this one isn't trying to kill you...at least you think it isn't. Yet as your hand moves to write your name, it gets replaced with other letters. Another name that tells you nothing. Somehow you feel like you should know it, but it's...it's...

It stays there for a few more seconds, leaving you with your thoughts before the contract disappears.

You're back into that chatroom again. Questions pop up in rapid succession before you're even permitted to type anything else. Once more, it seems that you find yourself typing things that aren't matching up with what you really want to say.

At least...you think...

What is your name?
Write it here.

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
Yes | No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
Yes | No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
Yes | No | Yes, but (insert your reason here)

Did you enjoy it?
Yes | No | It's complicated (but yes) | It's complicated (but no) | It's just complicated

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! Two makes it more fun!
Write it down here.

With questions like that and nothing around you moving, you feel like it's going to be a very, very, very long night.

[OOC: The network posts will now allow users to post their names, but they will show up as their CANON ones. The user's persona can be added at the end, or not show up at all. Additionally, the occupations will still be censored.

MEMORY REGAIN: Right before their answers are posted, they will also get a longer flash of someone calling them by this name. The memory HAS to be someone calling them by their name. It could be both a good or a bad memory, that is up to you.

FOR THE AWAKENED: Awakened will be able to answer the questions again if they want. They'll also find themselves in their fancy new outfits and will able to summon their weapons during this time. Sweet indeed. ]

Comments

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

[This situation wasn't good. He had to turn it around somehow and he knew it, but with this type of predicament...

Frustrating, really. A feeling that seemed to match with the one who stood besides him, white hair - eyes fierce and angry. Waiting for the right opening to blow the two holding the girl hostage to smithereens, but doing what he could to hold himself back. Like a literal ticking time bomb, he thought - and Yamamoto would have found it amusing if he wasn't ignoring the current conversation to formulate a plan.

"No choice, then..." He wasn't sure if this was going to work, but it didn't hurt to try, right? Make it sound convincing, like they'd given up. Fool them all, like one big joke only he was in on. His friend's protests disregarded, brushed aside because he knew what he was doing - or so he hoped.

"But we're not accepting such a one-sided deal. First, cure the girl's poison in exchange for the rain and cloud rings. Once you've done that, we will trust you and exchange the remaining rings for the girl."

Step one, and the most important - otherwise everything afterwards wouldn't work if they didn't agree. Even if the two members on the enemy's team had the upper hand, they were the ones with the rings. The least they could do was see the fairness in that offer.

"Damn you, Yamamoto! Do you have any idea what you're saying?!" The yell in his ear was loud, but his arm stayed firmly up in the air, blocking the dynamite guardian from doing anything too rash. A silent, but very clear intent that he didn't want the other to interfere.

He had this.]

What is your name?
Takeshi Yamamoto

Do you think the future is unavoidable?
No

Do you consider yourself a bad person?
No

Have you ever killed someone/something?
No

Did you enjoy it?
No

Now share one or two of your darkest secrets with the rest of the group! Two makes it more fun!
I almost jumped off a roof, once. I thought I didn't have much of a future if I couldn't do the only thing in life I was really good at.
I will do whatever I can to make sure my friends and family are safe, even if that means I have to put myself in harm's way to do so.

[There's no response afterwards for a good minute, until finally.]

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: This seems a bit much...

Chikusa Kakimoto ☸ Astaroth

[kokuyoyo]

[....Oh. Now there's a familiar name he wasn't expecting. There's not the emotional impact of seeing Mukuro's name, but that only means Chikusa has less of an idea of what to do with it.]

[...Or that secret, for that matter.]

The app can't be blamed for that, Yamamoto Takeshi.

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

[For once, he's not smiling, but luckily that's not something that carries over texts.]

Haha... no. I guess not?
It's just an app, right?
But still...

[No response for a second, mostly because he's shaking his head to clear his thoughts.]

Oh! But that's not my name!
Sorry, I don't know why it says that.

[Typing that felt wrong, though, like a small part of himself was disagreeing. Fighting against that thought, and it caused a faint reminder of the headache from previously. This was all kind of disorienting still, making it harder to find the humor in all of this.]

[kokuyoyo]

The app only forces you to think.

[....Just whether you want to or not.]

If it shows up as your name, then it's your name.

[pouringrain]

That's why we always get headaches, right?
Because it makes us see things?

Is it... ? [That can't be right.]
That's the first time anyone's ever called me that.
Wouldn't I know if it was mine?

[He is so confused right now, and honestly kind of wants to go back to curling up in bed at this point.]

[kokuyoyo]

I don't get the headaches anymore.

No. Who was it?

[Don't mind him, just being super helpful right now.... or something...]

[pouringrain]

[It's okay, bff!! You do you.]

So they do go away?

[Then another lengthy pause towards the question. Rubbing at his forehead with the palm of his hand while he tried to remember whatever that flash was about.]

I don't know who.
He was super angry and there was something about dynamite?
That's all I can recall before my head starts to hurt.

[kokuyoyo]

Yes.

[And he's not lying... exactly...]

Oh, him.

[pouringrain]

[He's glad the headaches go away, at least, but it's difficult to focus on that aspect when Chikusa's particular wording catches his attention.]

... ???
You know him?
Who is he?
Is he a friend of yours?

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

which part?

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

All of it?
It's not really much fun, either.
It's too serious.

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

at least you didn't kill anyone

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

Ah! Why would I kill anyone!?
That's bad!
Like really, really bad!

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

is it?
you didn't though

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

It is!!
And of course I didn't!
I'm not the type of person who could kill someone.
Is that really so weird?

Nakigitsune ⚔ Camio

[foxhands]

no
most people probably don't kill



what if it's your job

Lenka Utsugi ⚔ Eligor (I almost forgot about the roof thing, Yamamoto no)

[probablynoteren]

01: the second week is...

[He still doesn't quite have a word for what it is. It's not terribly important.]

01: ... it looks like you didn't jump off a roof.

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas (Understandable because I also forgot before reviewing KHR. > >;

[pouringrain]

80: I don't know why that's...
80: I wouldn't.

[He doesn't believe he would, but there's that part of him saying nothing he typed was a lie again. Something that made him uncomfortable, though he didn't think he understood the whole picture either. Not that this app was giving him any clear indicaton on what that might be at the moment.]

80: Is this always going to happen?

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's more serious than last time.

[ Harley honestly wasn't sure how to feel about it. ]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: To think there's still more to go.

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: It is.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: I'm worried about everyone, if this gets worse.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: The people that's used to this app says this is normal, but.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: I feel like that doesn't make it okay.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's not uncommon for victims to normalize unwanted behavior. Most often, it's used as a coping mechanism.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: If we can't get rid of the app no matter what length we take it to...
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It's no surprise that the first round of participants have already conditioned themselves to deal with it.

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: Isn't it a good thing to adapt to a bad situation, though?
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: But they don't really feel like victims to me.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: Ah! Not that I'm good with understanding that type of stuff, but it seems like they do want to help us.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: They just can't tell us a lot of stuff for some reason.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It some cases, yes, but those who feel powerless over their situations do adapt by just accepting it for what it is.

[ Granted Harley was more interested in forensics, in particular, it was still along the field in which he studied. ]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: The censorship limits the kind of support they can provide. Unfortunately we have to learn like they did.

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas

[pouringrain]

Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: At least there's plenty of us around that we can work together.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: And even if they can't support us with information, being able to chat with them is still really helpful.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: But you're right.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: We won't be able to get what they're talking about until we experiencing it for ourselves.
Takeshi Yamamoto ⚔ Glasya-Labolas: Whatever it is.

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago

[osakanpride]

Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: Their presence does appear to ease some of the wariness a few new users are experiencing.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: It can't be too horrible if the seasoned users are still around to talk about it.
Heiji Hattori ☸ Vassago: But I doubt it'll be pleasant.